Original Articles
JIA Shao feng, ZHANG Jun yan, ZHANG Shi feng
Discussed are definition of water resources security, water resources stress indicators and indicator system for regional water resources security appraisement. Water resources security means that every person has the right to get safe water supply with acceptable price. In fact, there are 3 layers or aspects of water resources security. The first is the social aspect of water resources security which means household water demand, especially that of poor family as a basic human right, should be satisfied. The second is the economic aspect of water resources security which means water supply should meet rational demand of economic development. The third is the ecological aspect of water resource security which means the minimum water demand of ecological system should be met to protect ecological integrity. Per capita water resources and water use intensity are used universally to measure water resources stress. These two indicators are simple and convenient to show general situation of water resources and water use, but they can’t reveal all aspects of water resources security. Water resources security is a very integrated concept and can’t be measured by one or two simple indicators. To appraise regional water resources security, a system of indicators should be developed. Following 5 indicators are suggested to appraise general situation of water resources security: satisfied level of total water demand, ratio of human water consummation to total water quantity consumable by human being, probability of draught, ratio of household water satisfaction when draught, and GDP loss when draught. 5 indicators are used to measure water resources security level on the aspect of social security: ratio of water really supplied to standard water demand in city and town, ratio of water really supplied to standard water demand in village, ratio of household water supply to safe quality with total household water supply, ratio of household expenditure for water to total expendable income, and ratio of safe water supply to poor people. Following indicators are selected to appraise water resources security in the aspect of economy: average time of no water supply to enterprises, ratio of water quantity really irrigated to rational quantity of irrigation water, ratio of land area irrigated to polluted water to total irrigated land area, and percentage of water use expenditure in total production cost. As to the ecological aspect of water resources security, we select following indicators: satisfied level of ecological water requirement, water use intensity, ratio of river length polluted to total river length, ratio of accumulative quantity of ground water over withdrawal to average annual ground water recharge, ratio of real area of lakes to expected lake area, and percentage of aviation canal shorting.